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Jun
28th

F1 Britain: Nico Rosberg sets fastest time on Friday

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Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo set the fastest time in a rain soaked first practice session for the British Grand Prix while Nico Rosberg emerged fastest on a dry track in the afternoon.

Ricciardo, who is one of the candidates for the Porsche bound Mark Webber in 2014, set his initial lap time of over two minutes at around the 76-minute marker, which kick-started what had been a relatively quiet session.

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG (Photo: WRI2)

However, he managed to improve over a period of eight laps to set a quickest time of 1m59.249 seconds.

Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg was second 0.784s behind Ricciardo, but managed to stay ahead of third placed Pastor Maldonado, and local favourite, Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, who had led briefly led at one stage.

Hulkenberg's Sauber team-mate, Esteban Gutierrez and Williams' Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top-six, in a session which only featured 11 drivers.

Notable incidents of the session were Charles Pic spinning at the final corner and damaging his front wing, after being caught out by the treacherous conditions. Gutierrez also aquaplaned at Turn 1 and despite taking the corner sideways, managed to escape damage free.

Free practice 2
The second practice session saw Nico Rosberg once again underline Mercedes' one-lap advantage to set the quickest time by 0.3 seconds ahead of the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.

Force India's Paul di Resta and Rosberg's Mercedes teammate, Lewis Hamilton, gave the British crowds something to cheer about after finishing fourth and fifth in conditions which were vastly improved from the morning washout.

Despite the improved weather, Felipe Massa managed to have his third accident in as many races, after he lost control of the Ferrari at Stowe corner, and removed its front end.

As a result, the Brazilian has only had seven laps of running ahead of tomorrow's qualifying session and finished the session at the bottom of the timing boards.

FP1 pace setter Daniel Ricciardo was sixth in the Toro Rosso, ahead of team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne, Adrian Sutil, Romain Grosjean and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso who rounded out the top-10.

Despite finishing 10th, the Ferrari showed Red Bull matching race-pace on its longer runs.

McLaren had another quiet afternoon and is suspected to be continuing to suffer from ride height issues, which have plagued its difficult 2013 car, with Jenson Button and Sergio Perez finishing 11th and 14th respectively.

Kimi Raikkonen also had a relatively quiet session in 13th, but it is expected that Lotus has not fully shown its potential this weekend as it plans to use its Drag Reduction System later over the weekend.

Grosjean was also not without upgrades to the team's E21 car, as he ran upgraded bodywork on the #8 car.


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